Chelsea Handler Urges Women to Band Together in a New Political Essay

Chelsea Handler isn't just a funny lady—she's also an incredibly smart woman with a killer Netflix talk show who's not exactly afraid to speak her mind. So when she penned a political essay for Thrive Global called "We Have A Problem With Women Supporting Women" we knew she had an important point to make. Her takeaway? She essentially uses the Shine Theory to make the point that now, more than ever, women need to support each other to continue moving forward.

Handler writes that the election revealed a concerning divide between women.

94% of black women voted for Hillary Clinton, because unlike white
women, black women don’t take their rights, liberties, or justice for
granted. They honor how hard people fought for them, and they are
fully committed to honoring the very people who risked, and in many
cases lost, their lives fighting for ability to count. They understand
how fragile our democracy is and they show up again and again, because
they know firsthand how fragile democracy and civilization are.

She also points out that, in stark contrast, 53 percent of white female voters voted for President-elect Donald Trump—and this tells her one thing: "We don’t just have a problem with men supporting women in this country; we have a problem with women supporting women."

Why, she asks, did women not band together when "Hillary Clinton— arguably the mostly qualified Presidential candidate in modern American history — was standing right there in her pleated pantsuit waiting to lift America up out of its 240-year 'winning streak' of male dominance and patriarchy?"

"Women need to get behind women," she told us that night. "We’ve got a problem not with men not supporting women, but with women not supporting women. We need to address that and figure out how to have a conversation with women who don’t think the same way we do.”

In her essay, Handler lists Clinton's qualifications, from her work with the Children’s Defense Fund to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and even her 69 percent approval rating when she left the office of Secretary of State. The reason Trump still won, Handler says, is because of unnecessary competition between women. As women, we're told there are only so many opportunities—but instead of Mean Girl-ing each other to succeed, Handler encourages women to work together instead to create opportunities and work toward what we deserve.

Ladies, we can do better than this. We can eliminate the
competitiveness that has been imposed upon us because we are treated
as a minority and have been taught to tackle, rather than climb.
We can wake up America and American women to do a better job going
forward; to create an activist fire under women to start treating
other women and our America with more respect than we have
obsequiously shown for our traditional male dominators. We need to
rise up and use our votes to help ourselves, and to stop hurting
ourselves. Forget the jealousy. Forget the competitiveness. We are
stronger together. Find a woman you have nothing in common with and
give her a hug. Then hug yourself. Then roll up your sleeves and stop
looking in the mirror. Look around. Get away from yourself. Find women
to support. Throw your weight behind them. Get involved.

What she's is alluding to is the shine theory, or the idea that when you surround yourself with other successful, hardworking women, everyone shines brighter, and womankind is better for it (kind of like what our favorite Work Wives talked about on their podcast).

It’s time to get focused on what really matters. Find women that are
different than you and figure out the things you have in common. We
have a whole generation of girls who are looking at us to see how we
treat each other. Let’s show them what the power of being a woman
really looks like. Let’s open our arms to each other, and to them.

Handler closes with a pledge to do better and encourages us to do that same: "We can do better than this, ladies, and we will during the next four years as we stand up for women, children, the majority vote, and American justice against the Trumpian whitemare. I know I can do better, and I will. It starts now."